Tag: Marble Falls High School

Rockets 2019 New North Texas/Jacksboro Saturday Launch and Mission Complete

Saturday, Day 2 for North Texas Rockets 2019 launch series was a high flying success as we ended our stint in Jacksboro. The new crew sent 12 rockets skyward for 5 different schools. Recovery did an awesome job bringing them back to the schools. This was a brand new venue this year, and most staff and volunteers from the area were also new. They were all a wonderful group that learned fast and performed well.

It all went well without any serious mishaps. This new location and crew from the area has a lot to be happy about as they all helped SystemsGo create another fantastic launch event.

One of the best accomplishments aside from the launch itself is the exposure to new parents and communities as to what these students and classes are really doing. This has brought new enthusiasm to the event and a new host of possible support staff for the future of the event as they have actually been able to see the excitement their students have  for the program, as well as what they are learning. Also they now see first hand what it takes to put on these events so that the students can test these vehicles. At the end of the day, support and enthusiasm for the program was high. This is a great thing for the future of the event here in North Texas.

Afterwards the SystemsGo team and volunteers dismantled the site, sending bunkers and other equipment to storage for next year’s launch season. Instead of finishing the launch series at around 8:30 like last night, we were all going to our rooms for much-needed rest after a wonderful dinner together. We ended the event well and now march on to the next one.

A whole-hearted thanks is extended to all who helped make this launch possible.

Pictures are from the progress at the site to this point are on SystemsGo Facebook page, as well as my Facebook page. They can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

North Texas was the second launch in the 2019 series, preceded by the Jal, New Mexico launch, and followed  next by  Central Texas/Stonewall and Southeast Texas/Smith Point.

The  launch dates, locations, map links, ticket links, and schools are also listed here for your convenience or can be found at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ .

A live feed for each launch will be provided and will be available at www.systemsgo.org as each launch date arrives.

Later in the summer, eight Texas schools are currently on the roster to attempt a possible 10 rockets at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, completing the fifth launch and finalizing the season.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedule links, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events if information is available.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page,  SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on theses events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the launches!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 New North Texas Launch Site, Friday Launches

Today was the first day for  the new venue in North Texas  at Jack County as part of the SystemsGo Rockets 2019 program.  Seven schools attempted 22 rockets of which all rockets left the pad  successfully. A few of the later day Transonics took a couple of attempts but did accomplish lift off. It was a great first launch day in Jack County.

It was a long day. the first rocket didn’t launch until 11:30 and the last was 8:30. The crew was really beat but proud to say they got them all off the rails. University High School with started the flights with 6 of their 7 vehicles completing the whole first volley. Buinger and Hollenstein High Schools ended the day with their Transonics.

Tomorrow the schedule shows 6 schools and 16 rockets. There may be 17 as a late school may have been added.

All  the vehicles except about 8 were recovered for the day. Hopefully these will be found along with tomorrow’s line up. Team 1 is proud to report that we found six ourselves. Admittedly though they were a lot further and required a lot more hiking than  we had planned.

George Burns provided a shuttle service from the spectator parking to the site today and will again tomorrow. He brought up one of his 290 Wine Tours buses to transport people back and forth.

Pictures are from the progress at the site to this point are on SystemsGo Facebook page, as well as my Facebook page. They can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

Restrooms and concessions will be provided at the launch site. A spectator tent will also be available. Please remember sunscreen, chairs, umbrellas, extra snacks and drinks,

The launch site is in Jacksboro area, while Stages 1 and 2 are at the Fire Department in nearby Perrin.

Patience is a normal requirement with test vehicles, as they don’t adhere to schedules well.  In fact, rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch.

Admittance for public viewing  begins at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence at 8:30 a.m. if all goes right. Today didn’t follow that schedule pre-set schedule well at all. Come join in the action and cheer on these students. Admission is free, but the look on your students’ faces when their vehicle goes up and then is recovered, is far from priceless.

If you plan to attend these launches please register for your attendance ticket ahead of time or obtain them at the gate. These are free but required for admittance to each site as they also include a waiver for access to the site. that must be signed. Reserving them ahead at the website is preferred to obtaining them at the gate because the latter slows entrance to the site and may result in you missing the viewing of your intended launch. The link is listed in the information above or can be found at www.sytemsgo.org .

The  launch dates, locations, map links, ticket links, and schools are also listed here for your convenience or can be found at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ .

North Texas/Jack County:

If you follow this program join us again tomorrow for Rockets 2019 Day 2 in Jacksboro.

A link for the live feed for this launch is available at www.systemsgo.org  for each day.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedule links, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events if information is available.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page,  SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on theses events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the launches!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 New North Texas Launch Site, Wednesday/Thursday Set Up

The SystemsGo team and volunteers spent Wednesday evening and all day Thursday at the brand new venue in North Texas at Jack County. They were readying both the launch site in the Jacksboro area and check out stations for stages 1 and 2, at the Fire Department in nearby Perrin, to be complete for the arrival of schools, students, and test vehicles for the Rockets 2019 launch line up.  Tomorrow, Friday,  is opening day for  this new Texas launch site for the junior level rockets.

Excitement is high as the team worked hard to be sure everything would be ready to accept all participants and their rockets promptly tomorrow morning. The new site will have six launch rails ready to send Rockets out to #RideTheSkies.

The team and volunteers have worked hard and had a lot of fun getting ready to host the students. A special thanks is extended to Mr. Buck Brown and his family for the use of their ranches this weekend. A few of us were able to meet him and his brother, Barry Brown,  this evening, while installing signs at the public parking area.

Names as pictured: Buck Brown, Scott Netherland, and Barry Brown(in truck).

Another thank you is extended to the Sid W. Richardson Foundation that is SystemsGo’s sponsor in this endeavor. We hope to meet a representative of them tomorrow at the launches.

Pictures are from the progress at the site to this point are on SystemsGo Facebook page, as well as my Facebook page. They can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

Restrooms and concessions will be provided at the launch site. A spectator tent will also be available. Please remember sunscreen, chairs, umbrellas, extra snacks and drinks, and downtime entertainment.

Patience may be in order if you plan to view launches here, since occasionally there can be small kinks to work out at a new location.  Patience is a normal requirement with test vehicles, as they don’t adhere to schedules well.  In fact, rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch.

Mr. Brett Williams, the program’s originator, used to say that it took a million things to go right to get these rockets to launch, and only one thing going wrong to prevent them from launching.

Jacksboro is the first Texas launch for the Rockets 2019 season. It will be followed by launches in  Central Texas/Stonewall, and Southeast Texas/Smith Point, Texas. It follows the SystemsGo New Mexico launch, which was last week in Jal, New Mexico.

North Texas/Jack County, is hosting 12 schools, slated to test 39 rockets Friday and Saturday. In past years many of these schools launched at the Central Texas launch, formerly held in Willow City, north of Fredericksburg. This new venue gives them a launch site much closer to their schools.

The  launch dates, locations, map links, ticket links, flight schedules and schools are also listed here for your convenience or can be found at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ .

North Texas/Jack County:

  • Friday, April 26-Saturday, April 27
  • New Launch Site: FM 2210 W and Gowan Ranch Lane, Jacksboro, TX 76458
    Stage 1 & 2 at Perrin VFD: 2210 W Hackley Street, Perrin, TX 76486
  • https://www.greateventseats.com/NthTexas
  • North Texas-Jack County 2019 Flight Schedule
  • Map to Sites (PDF)
  • Schools participating: Buinger CTE Academy, Carroll HS, Henrietta HS, Hollenstein CTC, Scurry-Rosser HS, University HS, Birdville CTAL, Grapevine HS, Maypearl HS, Northwest HS, Petrolia HS, RL Turner HS
  • 39 expected rockets for testing

The site will be open for admittance and public viewing at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence at 8:30 a.m.  all things willing. Come join in the action and cheer on these students. Admission is free, but the look on your students’ faces when their vehicle goes up and then is recovered, is far from priceless.

However, if you plan to attend any of these launches please register for your attendance ticket ahead of time or obtain them at the gate. These are free but required for admittance to each site as they also include a waiver for access to the site.  Reserving them ahead at the website is preferred to obtaining them at the gate because the latter slows entrance to the site and may result in you missing the viewing of your intended launch. The link is listed in the information above or can be found at www.sytemsgo.org .

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2019  will continue with two  more launches in May. The Central Texas/Fredericksburg launch site  will be third in the line up this year. It has moved from Willow City to the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  Look for more details on that  coming up. The last of the junior level launches will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas for schools in the Houston  and Southeast Texas area.

A live feed for each launch will be provided and will be available at www.systemsgo.org as each launch date arrives.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedule links, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events if information is available.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page,  SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on theses events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the launches!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 Season Boasts a Successful Start at Jal, New Mexico Last Week!!!

The Rockets 2019 Season kicked off last week with a thrilling launch series in Jal, New Mexico. According to reports from SystemsGo Program Director, Rebekah Hyatt and SystemsGo New Mexico head, Dave willden, 32 rockets sailed the skies over New Mexico, successfully.

“It was an exciting start to the SystemsGo Rockets 2019 season!” -Rebekah Hyatt.

Many volunteers joined Willden and his staff, Kelley Alsup, Naira Mendoza and Christine Hendershot –  of the PVREC #8  to coordinate and carry out this outstanding event.

Superintendent, Brian Snider, and Pricipal, Elaine O’Neal graciously loaned the use of their schools for Stage 1 and 2, to which SystemsGo would like to extend a special thanks.

SystemsGo New Mexico is continuing to grow, so keep your “Eyes to the Skies” for next year’s rocket event.

Later in the summer, eight Texas schools are currently on the roster to attempt a possible 10 rockets at White Sands Missile Range ,   also in New Mexico, completing the Rockets 2019 season.

If you follow this program Rockets 2019  will continue with three  more launches in April and May. Next the brand new site in Jack County in North Texas will be the place to be. Followed by the Central Texas/Fredericksburg launch which will be at the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  And last of the junior level launches will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas.

A live feed for each of these three launches will be available at www.systemsgo.org as each launch date arrives.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedule links, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events if information is available.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page,  SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on theses events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the launches! #RideThe Skies!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 Expands Again Adding the New North Texas Launch Site, Launches Commence Next Week

The SystemsGo program added a brand new venue in North Texas  at Jack County to the  Rockets 2019 launch line up.  This is now the third Texas launch site for the junior level rockets.   As the number of schools in Texas is increasing over the years, this venue was added to deflect some of the load from the Central Texas and Southeast Texas launches. There are currently 51 schools participating in the three Texas launches, with a total this year of 145 rockets.

Having this new site has allowed the load to be distributed by region to a more manageable number for each. This year that division is as follows:

  • North Texas/Jack County– 12 schools – 39 rockets
  • Central Texas/Stonewall– 22 schools – 49 rockets
  • Southeast Texas/Smith Point– 17 schools – 57 rockets

North Texas is the second launch in the 2019 series, preceded by the Jal, New Mexico launch, and followed  next by  Central Texas/Stonewall and Southeast Texas/Smith Point.

Later in the summer, eight Texas schools are currently on the roster to attempt a possible 10 rockets at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, completing the fifth launch and finalizing the season.

All sites will be open to public viewing of launches except White Sands Missile Range. However, if you plan to attend any of these launches please register for your attendance ticket ahead of time or obtain them at the gate. These are free but required for admittance to each site as they also include a waiver for access to the site.  Reserving them ahead at the website is preferred to obtaining them at the gate because the latter slows entrance to the site and may result in you missing the viewing of your intended launch. The link is listed in the information above or can be found at www.sytemsgo.org .

This new launch site is in Jacksboro area, while Stages 1 and 2 are at the Fire Department in nearby Perrin. Patience may be in order if you plan to view launches here, since occasionally there can be small kinks to work out at a new location.  Patience is a normal requirement with test vehicles, as they don’t adhere to schedules well.  In fact, rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch.

The sites will be open for admittance at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence at 8:30 a.m. Come join in the action and cheer on these students. Admission is free, but the look on your students’ faces when their vehicle goes up and then is recovered, is far from priceless.

The  launch dates, locations, map links, ticket links, and schools are also listed here for your convenience or can be found at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ .

North Texas/Jack County:

  • Friday, April 26-Saturday, April 27
  • New Launch Site: FM 2210 W and Gowan Ranch Lane, Jacksboro, TX 76458
    Stage 1 & 2 at Perrin VFD: 2210 W Hackley Street, Perrin, TX 76486
  • https://www.greateventseats.com/NthTexas
  • North Texas-Jack County 2019 Flight Schedule
  • Map to Sites (PDF)
  • Schools participating: Buinger CTE Academy, Carroll HS, Henrietta HS, Hollenstein CTC, Scurry-Rosser HS, University HS, Birdville CTAL, Grapevine HS, Maypearl HS, Northwest HS, Petrolia HS, RL Turner HS
  • 39 expected rockets for testing

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2019  will continue with two  more launches in May. The Central Texas/Fredericksburg launch site  will be third in the line up this year. It has moved from Willow City to the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  Look for more details on that  coming up. The last of the junior level launches will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas for schools in the Houston  and Southeast Texas area.

A live feed for each launch will be provided and will be available at www.systemsgo.org as each launch date arrives.

The senior groups are tentatively scheduled to launch their Goddard level rockets at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico in late June.  These are not available for public viewing or Livestream due to being tested on a military facility, but blog and SystemsGo updates will be posted online as available during that week.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedule links, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events if information is available.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page,  SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on theses events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the launches!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 Blasts Off 5 Times this Season, Begining at Jal, New Mexico Next Week!!!

The  2019 Rocket season is boasting five launches this year! The SystemsGo program added a brand new venue in North Texas as well as a new location for the original Central Texas launch, making three Texas launches and one New Mexico launch for the Tsiolkovsky and Oberth levels. The fifth and final launch for the season is the Goddard level at White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico.

The current rosters list 13 schools participating in the Jal, New Mexico launch,  where they will be testing 33 rockets. This is the third year for this venue and already they are outfitted with their own staff and volunteers. Fredericksburg Program Staff will still be there to help and oversee operations. Their numbers in both schools and rockets has greatly increased since their first season. They began with 6 schools and 10 rockets, only testing Tsiolkovsky vehicles. Now they test both Tsiolkovsky and Oberth level vehicles, and  have doubled the amount of participating schools and more than tripled the rocket numbers.

With 13 schools launching in Jal, and a total of 51 schools in the three Texas launches, that brings the grand total of schools to 64. Add testing 145 rockets at the Texas launches to Jal’s 33 and 178 rockets will #RideTheSkies for this 2019 Rocket season.

Later in the summer, eight Texas schools are currently on the roster to attempt a possible 10 rockets at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, completing the fifth launch and finalizing the season.

SystemsGo New Mexico does have a twitter feed  in order to follow the launches. The link is still live, but right now there are no current tweets.  That link is https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNM

All sites will be open to public viewing of launches except White Sands Missile Range. However, if you plan to attend any of these launches please register for your attendance ticket ahead of time or obtain them at the gate. These are free but required for admittance to each site as they also include a waiver for access to the site.  Reserving them ahead at the website is preferred to obtaining them at the gate because the latter slows entrance to the site and may result in you missing the viewing of your intended launch.

The  launch dates, locations, map links, ticket links, and schools are also listed here for your convenience or can be found at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ .

Jal, New Mexico:

North Texas/Jack County:

  • Friday, April 26-Saturday, April 27
  • New Launch Site: FM 2210 W and Gowan Ranch Lane, Jacksboro, TX 76458
    Stage 1 & 2 at Perrin VFD: 2210 W Hackley Street, Perrin, TX 76486
  • https://www.greateventseats.com/NthTexas
  • North Texas-Jack County 2019 Flight Schedule
  • Map to Sites (PDF)
  • Schools participating: Buinger CTE Academy, Carroll HS, Henrietta HS, Hollenstein CTC, Scurry-Rosser HS, University HS, Birdville CTAL, Grapevine HS, Maypearl HS, Northwest HS, Petrolia HS, RL Turner HS
  • 39 expected rockets for testing

Central Texas/Stonewall:

Southeast Texas/Smith Point

The sites will be open for admittance at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence at 8:30 a.m.  Of course rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch. Come join in the action and cheer on these students. Admission is free, but the look on your students’ faces when their vehicle goes up and then is recovered, is far from priceless.

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2019  will continue with three  more launches in April and May. Next the brand new site in Jack County in North Texas will be the place to be. The launch site is in Jacksboro while Stages 1 and 2 are at the Fire Department in nearby Perrin. Patience may be in order if you are watching here, since occasionally  there can be small kinks to work out at a new location. Of course as those of you know that have watched before, patience is a normal requirement with test vehicles.  39 rockets will be tested by 12 schools at this new site this year.

The Central Texas/Fredericksburg launch site  will be third in the line up this year. It has moved from Willow City to the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  Stages 1 and 2 will be at the Stonewall Chamber of Commerce building.  This is a new location for this launch as well, but hopefully it will continue to run smoothly (as smooth as this kind of thing does anyway) since it is the same basic crew and volunteers, with a few new volunteers too, but just in a new place.  This testing site covers mostly the Fredericksburg and Hill Country area schools. Currently there are 49 rockets scheduled for launch by 22 schools at this location.

The last of the junior level launches will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas for schools in the Houston  and Southeast Texas area.   Currently  57 vehicles are scheduled for testing by 17 schools at this site.  This location is in its third year for that area. Information and a map links are available.

A live feed for each launch, except Jal, New Mexico, will be provided and will be available at www.systemsgo.org as each launch date arrives.

The senior groups are tentatively scheduled to launch their Goddard level rockets at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico in late June.  These are not available for public viewing or Livestream due to being tested on a military facility, but blog and SystemsGo updates will be posted online as available during that week.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedule links, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events if information is available.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page,  SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on theses events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the launches!

 

 

 

SystemsGo’s Rockets 2018 Officially Ended Sunday as the Team Traveled Home and Transitioned into 2019 Preps

At 8:00 a.m.  Sunday morning, the SystemsGo team traveled home from White Sands Missile Range, arriving safely in Fredericksburg around 7:00 p.m. The FHS students and teachers followed arriving shortly after.

WSMR concludes another successful year of launches that begain with Jal, NM, Houston, and Willow City. The group helped test 140 Tchaikovsky and Oberth rockets and 6 Goddard level rockets for the Rockets 2018 season.

Now the volunteer staff returns to their daily lives and the SystemsGo team transitions into a season of program updates before new training begins with more schools, teachers, students and rockets. It won’t be long and the “launch season” will be back again with Rockets 2019. Next year’s season will begin again in the spring with launches in Jal, New Mexico, Houston (Anahua), Fredericksburg, and White Sands Missile Range. It should prove to be another exciting year.

There will be some changes next year as they are looking at relocating their Fredericksburg Rocket launches to a new location in Gillespie county, which will be announced at a later date.

That concludes the 2018 WSMR Rocket updates.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Saturday,Rockets 2018-Final Day at WSMR

SystemsGo scheduled three tests today at White Sands Missile Range, Booker T. Washington, Alamo Heights, and Anahuac. After these three launches, Union Grove would have the opportunity to have a second attempt at launch after fixing the malfunction from Friday’s launch.

Booker T. Washington’s rocket was the first test. Students had loaded the rocket onto the rail before leaving West Center 50 Range at mission completion last evening. The schedule had the school’s T time set for 8:00 a.m. It’s actual T time ended up being at 9:12 after two holds caused by issues with wiring on the rocket which caused the vehicle to have to be vented,  brought down, fixed and reloaded. Unfortunately, the rocket never left the rail. At ignition, the rocket only smoked,  ending in a misfire. Due to the misfire, a 30 minute wait time had to be observed for safety until it could be removed. Following the 30 minute wait, the vehicle was the vented and removed from the rail. It is believed that the injection system did not open.

Alamo Heights  was next on the rail. The schedule was now two hours behind. They loaded without incident and observed a T time of 11:57. It achieved ignition and lifted off the rail. It was a great launch, but turned on its side, continuing on up with an angle headed down range. The rocket reached a peak altitude of 23,083 feet, but due to the launch rail being at a MSL (mean sea level) of 4,521 feet, the final height reached was 18,562 feet. This number is calculated by subtracting the MSL from the peak altitude.

Vehicle velocity was 1503 feet per second. It traveled 26326.323 feet down range which equals 4.986 miles. WSMR reported that the chute did deploy before landing. Alamo Heights’ rocket had the second highest altitude, and also achieved the greatest distance traveled traveled for the weekend. After WSMR recovered the rocket it was determined that only the Drogue chute opened and then melted as the vehicle was still burning. Because of this the rocket had a ballistic re-entry, burying itself in the range. Only the engine casing with fins intact was returned to the team as seen in the picture above. In the picture below, the team is shown with the rocket before launch.

FD40E23B-2318-4A1E-87E2-7A43651DDEDF

Anahuac was next on the rail at 2:09 p.m. They had no lift at ignition, only a partial burn. It also vented the Nitrous through a hole in the injector bay. According to analysis from Anahuac, a hose between the injector and diffuser plate blew a fitting where it attached to the diffuser plate. They are not sure what caused this at this time, but they were able to confirm that the tank and injector were intact. The partial burn created another hang/misfire situation creating another safety delay of 30 minutes before the vehicle could be off loaded from the rail.

By the time this delay was up it was 2:45 and range end time for air space was 3:30. This effectively ended our mission time on the range, called officially by WSMR officials. Due to this, Union Grove was unable to go for a second attempt.

The mission was then called complete. Cleaning and packing up of WC50 began,  as this was the official last day of testing for SystemsGo, students, and WSMR personnel.

Safe travels to all schools heading home, tomorrow. It is back to Texas for the SystemsGo team tomorrow as well. Tonight, the team enjoyed dinner, drinks, conversation and an early bed time.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited. minute

Thursday, Welcome to White Sands Missile Range-T-1 Briefing and WC-50 Set up Day and Friday Schedules

Today was a productive first day at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) for the SystemsGo and the participating schools.

This year the group was invited to begin their engagement at WSMR with the viewing of a live Missile Test. The group watched the test which consisted of three missiles from the Missile Park on White Sands Missile Range at 8:00 a.m.

This viewing meant an early morning for the group rising at 4:00 a.m. in order to have the convoy at the Las Cruces Gate by 6:45 a.m. so that all vehicles could be checked through the gate in time to watch the test. Early mornings are a pretty normal occurance for the time here at WSMR.   Tomorrow will be no exception.

After the Missile Test viewing, the group was lead to the Post Theater. They were officially welcomed to WSMR and participated in the T-1 Briefing, Safety and Security procedures briefing, Public Affairs briefing, as well as other important informational briefings. During this time each school also gave their Student Rocket Presentations encompassing the details about and expectations of their vehicles.It was an educational and informative session.

WSMR personnel made introductions so all involved would know who they are and who to contact for help from the base. Scott Netherland introduced the SystemsGo team and specified their roles with the organization. We finished around 10:30 and headed out to West Center 50 launch site(WC50).

After arrival at WC-50 at around 11:30 a.m., the group worked hard to complete full project equipment set up, after which, they performed a communications check,  field readiness and systems checks, all rockets went through final pressure checks, and simulated launch countdown was enacted.

Fredericksburg’s Rocket was loaded onto the rail and left for first launch tomorrow morning.

The group left the range for the day at 7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow will be another  early morning for all of us. Teams launching and SystemsGo personnel will be headed out to WC50 at 5:00 a.m. to meet WSMR personnel at the Tula gate by 6:00 a.m.

Those going to watch the launches from Mission Control will be heading out at 6:00 a.m. to meet our rep in the gravel lot outside the main gate near Las Cruces, by 7:00 a.m.

Tomorrow’s launch schedule is as follows:

8:00 a.m. Fredericksburg High School
10:00 a.m. Brazoswood High School
12:00 a.m. Booker T. Washington High School                                                                    14:00 a.m. Anahuac High School

If it is a perfect day and all goes well with no exceptions with each launch, then the tests should be complete by 15:00 p.m.

Realistically, this is a very tight launch sequence with little to no room for errors. If we do not get all four launches tomorrow, then they will carry over into Saturday time slots creating up to four  launches on Saturday. Last year SystemsGo was able to hold this schedule. Hopefully tomorrow will go as well.

Sunday is a contingency day if needed in which four more vehicles could launch, otherwise we will travel home that day.

Best of luck to all schools so that they may have a successful launch tomorrow and that all schedules hold true.

Here is the current preview of the launches scheduled for Saturday. Tomorrow’s blog will have a final schedule for the day based on Friday’s test success.

Saturday’s launch order: Union Grove, Alamo Heights, any retests.

Event details will continue to be available here. I will provide more information each morning as to how the schedule and other event details will progress for that day and how launches went for the schools testing that day. Pictures are not allowed on the range, but some pictures of teams getting ready to leave for the range with their vehicles might be available. If anything is available I will post it for your viewing pleasure.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Rockets 2018-Friday Day 2 Report and Saturday Schedule

Friday had a slow start for rockets. A combination of  the lack of rocket readiness and a cloudy sky delayed our start until about 11:30 when the first vehicle lifted off. SystemsGo was able to load 24 out of 25 rockets listed on the schedule onto the rails and launched all 24. The 25th was an abort by one of the schools.

The schedule boasted an array of interesting vehicle designs and colors. All 24 left the rail, some with picture perfect flights and a few with rather short flights landing quickly again in the field around the launch  pad. These at least were easy for Recovery to locate and bring in for the students.

A Gifted and Talented class from Fredericksburg Junior High came out to get a tour and view the launches for a while this morning.

Embry Riddle University had a representative there with a booth of information, hoping to encourage students to pursue engineering education through them.

There was one particular rocket with a very different fin configuration today. Unfortunately I cannot remember the rocket’s actual name, but we all nicknamed it the Windmill. It was designed by Marble Falls High school and sported two sets of fins the larger of which gave it the appearance of a windmill fan. We were all quite interested in the launch of this vehicle since we hadn’t seen fins like this before, and were curious as to how they would perform. Below is the vehicle in stage 3.

The next sequence is from their launch. Shortly after lift off the large fins sheared off, raining down around the Pad, but the smaller fins carried the vehicle to a significant height before it nosed over and headed back down. Chute did deploy but the body separated from the chute and landed just inside the fence of the launch field, and the nose cone and chute landed on the ground across the fence about 50 yards. It really wasn’t a bad launch for the unusual rocket.

           Unfortunately I don’t seem to have gotten a picture of the body tube after recovery. It was a fascinating launch, that we were all waiting to see, so I thought I would share it here as well.

That concludes the fun for Friday. Join us at the launch site again tomorrow for more action. Saturday will be our last day this year. There are no Sunday launches.

Below is the launch schedule for tomorrow, Saturday. There are 7 schools launching a total of 22 rockets tomorrow.

School Name / Teacher 1/1 Trans
Akins HS
John Sayce		 3 4
Alamo Heights HS
Colin Lang		 4
Birdville CTAL
Conner Gorman		 3
London HS
Toni Castle		 1
Manor HS
Will Davis		 1 1
Northwest HS
Elizabeth Mitias		 2 1
RL Turner HS
Brian Morrill		 2
Schools Launching                7
Totals 12 10
Total Rockets                22

The following is a link to the album of pictures from today’s launch. Have a look you and your school rocket just might be in there.

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

Good luck to all the schools launching on Saturday. I will update the blog after we complete our day again tomorrow. Here is the link to the live stream again.

http://livestream.com/systemsgo

Please remember that although there is no charge for the event, and these launches are open to public viewing, parking and seating is limited due to safety requirements. For this reason, SystemsGo has a provided a link for you to pre-order tickets for those in your party. This also provides SystemsGo with a way to monitor the number of people in attendance each year. This is in no way meant to discourage your attendance, but is instead to help them provide a great experience for students and spectators, while doing all possible to monitor safety issues and attendance numbers at any one time during the launches.

http://www.systemsgo.org/events/

Event details will be available here each day of the event. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will also be posted.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

#SystemsGo #Rockets2017 #FredericksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01 #SystemsGoNewMexico